Electrostatic Repulsion Between Highly Injecting Metals: An Experimental Investigation

This paper is an experimental investigation of the major implications brought in the crossingresistance of mechanically contacted metals when operating in the high electronic injectionregime, i.e., steady state interfacial voltage values greater than the max. acceptable leveldetermined by specifications and less than the melting voltage. Under such operating conditions,monolayers of positive ions may be formed within interfacial cavities filled by thematerial from the surrounding space. The dominating ion neutralization process on the cathodecontrols the formation of “Helmholtz” inner layers at the metal cathode+oxide+gasinterface. The presence of a positive ion monolayer over the cathode electrode will tend toreduce the field threshold required for electronic field emission and affect the overall currentvoltagecharacteristics